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Products with the ingredients shellac, carmine, carminic acid, and red 34 are never vegan or vegetarian because they contain ground up insects - which are animals obviously.

Confectioners glaze is usually not vegan or vegetarian. It is possible to make an animal friendly version out of a corn protein but you'd have to contact the company to verify. As of yet I have not found any company that makes animal friendly confectioners glaze.

Natural colour or colour are usually not vegan or vegetarian. It could be ground up insects or it could be a plant. Always ask the manufacturer. Don't pay for products that kill or use animals.

For more information check out this great article [link] and I'll probably be writing my own blog article about the theory of eating insects soon.

Very informative; thanks I try my best to avoid animal products like these (eating bugs...eww) but it's somewhat harder since my parents don't support me... But still, at least your comics are one way to spread the message. Keep it up!

I use toothpaste that says certified vegan on it. ^^ Most toothpaste is made by companies that test on animals and some I suppose can have animal byproducts in it. Every vegan is different I guess - but yes I do, just very specific brands only.

that's very interesting that there's a brand like that. cuz that made me wonder how Buddhists and vegans get through their lives without hurting a single animal. i was veggie for like 6 yrs. and did a lot of that stuff.

Well the problem is that animal use is so ingrained into most cultures that it's almost impossible to never ever use animals. Supposedly there is something from horses in car tires and in computer monitors. My philosophy as a vegan is that I try my absolute best to avoid financially supporting animal suffering. I constantly add new things to my memory list to not eat or use, and when those get easy I go online, find new ones and add more. It's not about being perfect, it's about trying. ^^

At the end of the day I think animals are in sprinkles and tires and computer monitors because we live in a culture that eats and uses animals all the time. If we lived in a society where 50% of people were vegan, it wouldn't be cost effective to put insects in sprinkles so they'd just stop. If people didn't buy cow meat then the price of milk would go up and no one would buy milk, it's this big circle of causes. The only way to get there is to try and inspire cultural change, or at least that's what I believe and try to do.

wow. keep going with this. do you have a facebook page about this? i have two facebook pages to try to stop polluting our environment. the one i sell recycled jewelry from parts of garbage i find on the beach. the other i educate people about cleaning up and trying to get them involved

I don't actually have a facebook page, I've never thought of it actually. Unfortunately I'm doing way too much already to even consider more. I do my comics on here, submit them to a vegan/vegetarian news site, try to get them into the newspaper at my school, write a blog, run a vegan environmental club and volunteer at a donkey sanctuary. xD

wow! that's a lot. i've been juggling my jewelry and my photography. i'm hoping to get more people to learn how to upcycle things and not have it end up in the ground where it leaks right into our drinking water. blegh... i bought some vegan hair and face products and i'm doing a survey on how effective they are compared to the chemicals in regular things. i love the vegan products a million times more and i've gotten a bunch of people to buy vegan products instead

I love vegan products. <3 Well obviously. I use manic panic hair colours which are semi permanent but since they are herbal based they actually condition so I have bright purple/neon pink hair right now and it's in amazing shape. Most people that dye crazy colours with non-vegan chemical brands have such fried hair.

i was wondering if dinoflagellates would be considered a bad thing to eat, since they are creatures after all. They are in toothpaste and ice-cream, and stuff...your picture made me wonder about things we eat or use that have bugs or organisms in it.

Thanks for keeping an open mind. ^^ Supposedly you can make your own or buy sprinkles labeled vegan, but even if you can't it's such a small thing to avoid and think of the bugs you're not paying money to kill.

That's great. c: I think they do it for financial reasons. Bugs don't eat a lot, they're ridiculously cheap, and all they really need to grow is one plant that they harvest a branch off at a time with all the bugs on it. Of course it only stays cheap if everyone buys it, which is why I always feel great about only financially supporting food I actually agree with eating.

Thanks for keeping an open mind. ^^ It is disgusting. Supposedly you can make your own or you can buy sprinkles labeled vegan. I haven't found any yet, but even if you can't have sprinkles it's nice to know you're not paying to kill bugs.